Reader's Forum

Aiming for Green
Loved your July Lawn & Landscape editorial: “Avoid the Trap.” What a great little morale booster and motivator piece. It really can be applied to all of us nowadays. The only problem for me with golf is I hit everyone and anything in my path.

Lynne Whelan
Garden Media Group
Chadds Ford, Pa.

Crunching Numbers
Great article in the July 2009 "Huston, We Have a Problem" column titled “The Paralysis of Analysis” regarding the irrigation contractor example. My company does commercial/residential maintenance services with some enhancement and pricing it has always been a tough (no system in place). I can definitely say we are not bringing home enough when it comes to billable vs. non-billable hours to cover all overhead and profit. It has been tough to do business this way and, I can admit it seems overwhelming to begin the process now mid-year. What’s your advice? What should I pin down first before I begin moving forward?

Zoran Ploscar, president
Kingspointe Services
Detroit

Huston Responds: 
I’d focus on maximizing your daily revenue for each service that you provide. Cash flow can solve a lot of problems. Daily goals are key to that.

You might try paying your technicians one rate for non-billable time and another for billable time (e.g., $12 and $20 respectively). Their billable time will increase dramatically.

I’d also recommend studying your firm’s numbers to understand them better.

Correction
In the May Lawn & Landscape article “Route H2O,” it stated rain gardens need to be at least 120 feet from a home’s foundation. This is incorrect. Rain gardens should be at least 10 feet from a home’s foundation. Also, Dubberley Landscape plans to only double its business this year, not triple it. Lawn & Landscape regrets the errors.